


getting through to you

by prettyboyrollins



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 01:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13730412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyboyrollins/pseuds/prettyboyrollins
Summary: It's the night of two of the biggest matches of their careers, but Bayley and Elias find a moment of peace before it all. [A stolen moment before the Elimination Chamber.]





	getting through to you

**Author's Note:**

> hey who's got two thumbs and adores bayley and elias? this girl. (but really though wwe give us the romance angle we deserve.)
> 
> this is set the night of elimination chamber, right before the men's chamber match. it's written under the assumption that the women's elimination chamber will be main event.
> 
> if bayley wins the title (it's what she deserves!!!!!!!) there will be a sequel to this. if she doesn't, there may also be a sequel to this. who knows.

“Elias!”

Elias looked up from Delilah – he’d tucked himself away in a private corner backstage to play guitar and center himself to prepare for his match tonight. He hated being bothered; his time with Delilah away from screaming fans and annoying coworkers was precious and not to be disturbed. Anyone who did disturb him always got an icy glare and a curt “get out,” and most folks were smart enough to listen.

Bayley, though. She wasn’t an annoying coworker. She wasn’t a disturbance. She didn’t get that same treatment. She was… she was Bayley. And she was different.

“Charly told me you were hiding back here. I, um… I wanted to come and just… tell you that you’re gonna kill it tonight.” She crossed her arms and looked down for a moment – a sure sign that she was nervous. Elias had spent enough time around her now that he was able to recognize her tells. But then she looked up, and smiled at him, and it was so genuine and beautiful he couldn’t help but smile back. Her nervousness visibly melted away, and that made him smile more. God, she made him soft sometimes. Softer than he ever cared to be.

“Anyway,” Bayley continued, still a little nervous. “I know you don’t need luck, because you’re amazing, and, um, you’re entering last, so, like, statistically you’ve got a huge advantage, and –”

He’d put Delilah aside while Bayley was rambling, and, now that his hands were free, he wrapped her in a hug. She stopped short, caught off-guard, just like he’d hoped.

She felt small in his arms, but not fragile – he liked that, knowing she could hold her own in a fight, knowing she could overpower him or take him out herself if he acted out of line. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Bayley,” he said softly, right above her ear. “I appreciate it.”

She stuttered into his chest a few times – was she reeling from the hug, or the genuine kindness in his words? Was she shocked he was still acting decently towards her, even though he had no obligation to? And if so, what did that say about him? – but she got herself together quickly, arms tightening around him as she muttered a quiet “you’re welcome” that was muffled by his scarves.

He would’ve been content to stay like that for the rest of the night, Bayley in his arms, locked away from all the folks that would never understand them, but he had a match to win – and so did she. It took far too much effort to pull away enough to look at her, so that he could say something; he foolishly didn’t count on her taking his breath away, though.

God, but she was beautiful.

It took him a moment to collect himself enough to speak. “You know, Bayley, you got an important match tonight too. And unless I’m mistaken, you’ve beaten every woman in that chamber before. Now if I were them, locked in there with someone like you – hungry for it, and a damn strong competitor – I’d be prayin’ right now. You don’t need luck, either. You’re gonna kick ass too.”

Bayley blushed. “But, y’know, Sasha’s in there with me, and she’s –”

“Never held the title for more than two weeks. She hasn’t successfully defended it once – and _you_ have. At _WrestleMania._ You know as well as I do – you are _better_ than her.”

She stared up at him, quiet for a few moments, but that was more than enough silence to let doubt creep into his mind. Did he cross a line? She _was_ Bayley’s best friend, even if _he_ was sure that she was as much of a snake as Owens, but he hadn’t really said anything _untrue._ He wasn’t lying to her, and he wasn’t even really talking shit.

His worrying all stopped when she nodded once. “That’s – thanks. For reminding me. She was getting in my head a little bit, I guess.”

“Don’t let her. You got this.”

“I _do.”_ She sounded confident and self-assured, and he smiled again. That was the Bayley he liked to see – the same Bayley that had called him out for being a jerk, that had asserted her own value and thrown his own merch in his face. He’d been surprised, and proud, and he knew then that this woman was a gift that’d been handed to him on a silver platter. He wasn’t even supposed to be her partner, but some twist of fate had led to it, and here he was, letting his walls down for someone he never expected to even be able to tolerate.

She surprised him yet again when she stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek gently. It lingered just long enough to give him chills.

“For luck. Just in case. I mean, you _are_ gonna be locked in there with _Braun._ And I know you’ve beaten him before but… this is different. That’s… just a little extra protection.”

He blinked once, twice; his world, which had been thoroughly rocked just moments before, shifted back into place, nothing changed but everything somehow different at the same time. He felt the blush creeping onto his cheeks under his beard. “Uh. Thanks. Hopefully you got the… the magic touch to protect me from the monster.” He’d never felt less articulate in his life. He was so sure he sounded like a damn fool, but Bayley was still smiling up at him, so he couldn’t have seemed too idiotic to her.

The mood shifted around them, and the moment hung over them for what seemed like eternity. Elias’ brain went a mile a minute, debating what he should do next – because god, he wanted to kiss her, but this wasn’t an admission of feelings in so many words, and he refused to make her feel uncomfortable even in the slightest. But he didn’t want her to think he didn’t return any feelings – not that she even had feelings, but that kiss lingered a bit, and he wanted to think it was because she liked him. It all made him feel like he was back in high school in the worst way.

He quieted his internal monologue by leaning down and kissing her cheek in return, beard scratching at her skin. He let it linger just a moment too long to be a platonic, innocent thing – this kiss carried enough weight for her to get the message, but not enough weight to be weird. “There’s a little luck for you too. Just in case Sasha tries somethin’, or Alexa tries to cheat you out of your win.”

Bayley blushed as she looked up at him, and he knew he was blushing right back. Everything had shifted two inches to the left for them, it felt like. But it wasn’t bad – not yet. This felt good, like the start of something big and important for them both. He cleared his throat, and Bayley looked at their feet, and he finally stepped back from her. “Well. Uh. I gotta…”

“Your match, right. Go get ‘em, tiger.” He laughed, and watched her cringe a little bit.

“Right back at you. I’ll see you when you’re done, right?”

Her smile lit up the room as he picked Delilah back up and straightened his scarves around his neck. They’d be calling him soon – it was almost time. “Yeah, you will. You’ll be here?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged, knowing full well he’d be crowded around the monitors by gorilla, watching her match with his breath held until the bell rang. “You’ll find me, though. You always seem to get to me somehow.”

And wasn’t that the truth.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading and please leave a comment if you want to read more of these two!


End file.
